This thing will usually come in at a decent size
for six mana, at least by any other color's
standards. There's potential for it to be pretty
beefy, but with no trample, evasion, or
self-preservation beyond high toughness it's not
what you choose if you just want a big creature.
The draw here is the creature AND repeatable
land search, but of course if you've got six
mana to cast Realm Seekers, do you really need
to search for more lands? At that point, you're
just getting them out of your deck (not too
shabby) and maybe keeping your hand size up for
the second copy of Realm Seekers (kind of dumb
when you could have Hydras and stuff for the
same mana).
Realm Seekers is more functional in 1v1 than
Marchesa from yesterday, but once again, truly
shines in multiplayer. In such settings, six
mana may well get you an 8/8 or higher, on a
turn where it would be 3/3 or 2/2 in a
one-on-one match. Extra lands are perhaps less
useful late game than early, but there are
plenty of ways to find a use for them: X spells
invariably like to be cast even later in the
game than this card, and activating the ability
in response to a removal spell, even if you can
only afford to do so once, gives you a decent
and usable consolation.
Today's card of the day is Realm Seekers which
is a six mana Green 0/0 that enters play with X
+1/+1 counters where X equals the total number
of cards in all players hands and for three mana
you can remove a +1/+1 counter from it to add
land card from your library to your hand.
This is a very situational and overall weak for
the mana cost card in any one on one setting as
even if both players have an average of three
cards in hand it is only a 6/6 for six.
The three mana cost for adding a land isn't bad,
but by that point it is mostly just thinning the
deck and weakens Realm Seekers in addition to
the mana cost. Other options for searching
out lands or playing larger creatures can do
better than this, with Primeval Titan being a
clear example that even adds Trample. In
Multiplayer this changes noticeably as the
potential power can be quite high, so in that
setting it could see some play.
In a Limited format with this the value is
somewhat random as the situation can often be
poor for playing it, even in an effort to gain
lands or thin the deck. Other cards can be
more reliable and probably better draft choices
in Booster. In Sealed it depends on if
Green is a heavy part of the build already and
then if a higher end of the mana curve slot is
needed or wanted. In general sidedecking
it is probably safe unless there are no easier
endgame threat options available.
Realm Seekers is a card that's trying to do two
things that don't really seem to go together.
He's a ramp card built on a big body that needs
ramp to get him out in the first place. Once
you're at 6 mana, there's not a lot of need for
ramp. At least that's how I first saw it.
The better way to look at it is to think of him
as a big creature that has a built-in way to get
something back out of him if he dies. In an
average Conspiracy or Commander game of 4
people, he's going to usually come in as at
least a 10/10. That's big enough to demand an
answer. Find some way to give him evasion or
trample, and that makes a short clock for an
opponent. If anyone's got removal, the Realm
Seekers are likely to eat it. If you have some
mana up, you can at least get a land or two in
response to his death, which is better than
nothing.
So yeah, just look at the Seekers as a huge
creature for 6 mana. If that's what you want, go
for it. If you're looking for ramp, look for
something a little cheaper.
